*By Carlo Versano*
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti mulled a 2020 presidential run in an interview on Cheddar Monday, saying the cure to America's "odious" political sickness may be found in city hall.
"I hope that even if I don't run, that mayors will think about jumping in," Garcetti said, "because I think we could cut through a lot of that partisanship right now."
Garcetti, however, hedged on whether he would leave Los Angeles, where he has served as a Democrat since 2013, for a bid at the White House.
"I love L.A," Garcetti added. "If I were to run for president it would only be by seeing that I could do more for L.A."
And many in his hometown hope he stays put. The Los Angeles Times ran an opinion [column](http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-arellano-garcetti-20181024-story.html) last week urging Garcetti not to run for president, saying, "there's plenty for you to do in Los Angeles."
As part of his administration's goal of positioning L.A. as a tech-forward cradle of innovation to rival any city to the north, Garcetti unveiled the "Pledge LA" initiative to increase diversity among the city's burgeoning tech sector as well as L.A.-based companies that may not consider themselves tech players. "What isn't a tech job today?" he asked.
From Soylent and downtown food-science labs to Elon Musk's Boring Company digging tunnels under the city, to Netflix's ($NFLX) continued disruption of Hollywood, "everything is really technology."
Garcetti is asking L.A. businesses to take stock and make commitments to hire more women and people of color. He's also asking his roster of CEOs to "take that same sort of spirit of innovation and help L.A." by donating time and resources to address civic issues like homelessness and traffic.
For his part, Garcetti noted that he began a city library STEM program that is already majority female, and increased the number of women in his board and commissioner roles to more than 50 percent in six months. If slow-moving government can do that, he asks, imagine what the private sector can do for its own ranks.
"We want to make sure they don't look like the demographics from 'Mad Men'," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/l-a-mayor-eric-garcetti-on-tech-diversity-and-his-2020-plans).
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
